


Capital Punishment

by nagi_schwarz



Series: Juris Imprudence [24]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Gen, lawyer AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-25
Updated: 2016-06-25
Packaged: 2018-07-18 04:07:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7298923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the comment_fic prompt: "any. any. 'Any last words?'"</p><p>There's more than one way to hold a man's life in your hands.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Capital Punishment

The audience gallery was small, but it looked bigger than it was because it was half-empty. Besides Cam, the only other people there to witness the execution where the prosecutor, the warden, the victim’s parents, and a couple of reporters.  
  
Inside the execution chamber, Peter was strapped to the cot. Two doctors stood on either side of him. One was checking the machine, the other was consulting a clipboard. How old-fashioned and quaint.  
  
This wasn’t Cam’s first execution, and he knew it wasn’t his last. He knew what people thought of him. It was bad enough, admitting he was a lawyer when he was at a nice party. It was always just a little worse, when he explained that he did criminal defense.  
  
Everyone asked the same question. How could he stand to be around _those people_?  
  
When Cam was in a particularly sour mood, he’d say, _One day, you might be one of those people, and you’ll want the best defense money can buy._  
  
Peter declined last rites from the prison chaplain with a sharp look. The old man pursed his lips, and he asked,  
  
“Any last words?”  
  
Even though the window was mirrored on one side so the inmate couldn’t see who was in the audience gallery, Peter looked right at Cam.  
  
“I’m sorry,” he said.  
  
The victim’s parents began to cry.  
  
The doctor reached for the drug pump, and Peter added, still looking at Cam, “Thank you.”  
  
The doctor snatched his hand back, startled.  
  
Peter turned to him and snarled, “I wasn’t talking to you.”  
  
The warden rapped on the window, and the doctor reached for the drug pump once more.  
  
Peter’s eyes rolled back in his head, and he sank back, and Cam turned away. His father had always told him to be responsible for the consequences of his actions, good or ill, and not to shirk from the bad, not to be arrogant with the good. His father, a career soldier, had been talking about commanding men, about sending them to their death or bringing them home safely.  
  
There was more than one way to hold a man’s life in his hands.  
  
The second doctor reached out, checked Peter’s pulse, called time of death.  
  
Cam turned and headed for the door. He had work to do.

**Author's Note:**

> In AUs I tend to call Goa'uld by the first names of the actors who play their hosts so they can have real names, so Peter is Apophis and Simon Ball is, well, Ba'al. :)


End file.
